The Friends reunion that got delayed by the coronavirus pandemic may actually tape late this summer, according to WarnerMedia Entertainment and Direct-to-Consumer chairman Bob Greenblatt said.

The reunion was set to be available when HBO Max launches on May 27th.

Greenblatt tell Variety, “At first we thought, shows will be delayed for a month or two at the most, and now it seems like it’s going to be far longer than that. We’re holding out for being able to get this special done hopefully by the end of the summer, if the stars align and hopefully we can get back into production. We do think there’s a value to having a big, raucous live audience to experience these six great friends coming back together and we didn’t want to just suddenly do it on a web call with, you know, six squares and people shooting from their kitchens and bedrooms.”

He also says that if the stay-at-home orders continue much longer, they’ll explore a virtual route.

“But at the moment, we’re trying to look to the future and get this thing done in a more conventional way, and I think it’s worth waiting for,” he added. “We would have loved to have had it on [HBO Max on] Day One, but at the same time, if we can get it launched in the fall, I think it’ll be something that we can have the audience really looking forward to as well.”

(Variety)